Building on Bitcoin? Apply for a slice of $2.5m from the Rootstock Strategic Grants Program

Emerging from Bitcoin’s innovation, blockchain technology has significantly impacted various sectors, notably finance and banking, by offering secure, transparent decentralized mechanisms for global asset transfers. Yet, the constraints in Bitcoin’s programmability and the security compromises of Ethereum opened up a gap.

Enter Rootstock, a Bitcoin blockchain-based sidechain harmonized with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Recently some of the core development team spoke at a Coinscrum event in London about developing DeFi on Bitcoin and this article dives deeper into how Rootstock has established itself as the home of DeFi on Bitcoin and why developers should consider using it to deploy their next dApp.

What is Rootstock?

Rootstock, formerly known as RSK, is an EVM-compatible sidechain that combines the best aspects of Bitcoin and Ethereum. It offers developers the ability to create decentralized applications (dApps) while harnessing the robust security of Bitcoin. 

Over 50% of Bitcoin’s hashing power safeguards Rootstock through Merge Mining, a PoW mechanism. Bitcoin remains the native token within Rootstock represented as RBTC which is interchangeable with BTC on the mainchain at any time through a trustless, censorship resistant two way peg. 

So why build on Rootstock? 

By building on Rootstock, you are cryptographically, economically, and philosophically building on Bitcoin. The Bitcoin blockchain provides security and the Bitcoin token serves as a store of value for your project.

Leverage Bitcoin’s Strengths: Rootstock is the pioneering Bitcoin sidechain. When you build on Rootstock, you aren’t just building on any platform – you’re harnessing the power, security, and robustness of the Bitcoin blockchain. This brings your project the unparalleled security of Bitcoin’s network and the strong value proposition of its token.

Ethereum Compatibility: Rootstock is EVM-compatible. What does this mean for Ethereum developers? It’s straightforward: if it runs on Ethereum, it can run on Rootstock. Transitioning your Ethereum-based project to Rootstock is a breeze.

The world’s most secure smart contract platform: Rootstock’s security is underpinned by Bitcoin’s PoW consensus. A large number of Bitcoin miners participates in merge-mining, ensuring Rootstock’s network’s persistence and liveness. In fact over 57% of the hash power protecting Bitcoin also protects Rootstock This merged-mining approach is a significant layer that strengthens the bridge between Rootstock and Bitcoin, enhancing security.

Join a Flourishing Ecosystem: Rootstock boasts a diverse and rapidly expanding ecosystem. Whether it’s Bitcoin-backed stablecoins or DeFi platforms, or even government identity systems, Rootstock is at the heart of many innovative solutions. Plus, with support from major exchanges and wallets, your project gains visibility and integration potential right from the start.

Capital and Liquidity Support: Especially crucial for DeFi initiatives, having access to capital and liquidity during the initial phases is paramount. Rootstock is backed by multiple liquidity partners like the Systema Fund, ready to support innovative projects showing promise and potential. 

If that wasn’t enough blockchain technology company and core Rootstock contributor, IOV Labs also recently launched a $2.5m blockchain grants programme for anyone interested in building on Bitcoin with Rootstock. 

More Than Just Profit – A Purpose: Beyond mere technicalities and profit, Rootstock offers a grander vision. Founded with the aim of serving the underbanked, it represents an opportunity for developers to make a tangible difference in the world. If you’re looking for purpose-driven development, Rootstock offers a platform that aligns technology with meaningful impact.

Rootstock also offers transaction costs about 50 times lower than Ethereum and Bitcoin. It can process multiple transactions in parallel, effectively reducing gas fees. RIF Rollup, a ZK sync style scaling solution built on Rootstock, further lowers transaction costs through rollup technology while remaining cryptographically connected to Bitcoin 

Rootstock achieves speeds of up to 300 transactions per second, far surpassing Ethereum and Bitcoin. This scalability makes Rootstock an ideal choice for applications demanding high throughput such as remittances, payments, and lending solutions.

Ready to start building on Bitcoin? 

Dive in to the Rootstock Developers Portal to get started deploying DeFi apps on Bitcoin. For anyone already familiar with Solidity the transition is simple. In fact there’s a variety of videos on YouTube explaining how to port existing Ethereum apps to Bitcoin with Rootstock. For technical support, the Rootstock community Discord is a great place to discuss projects with core developers and other members of the community. 

If you’re just getting started with blockchain development there’s a free blockchain development course for developers to learn how to write, test, compile, deploy, secure, and verify smart contracts using Solidity. 

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